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Abstract [en]

The present thesis has been carried out during the spring of 2017 on behalf of Gavlegårdarna AB. This is a public housing company in Gävle (Sweden) which is a large energy consumer, over 200 million SEK per year, and has the ambitious goal of reduce its energy consumption by 20 % between 2009 and 2020. Many multi-family apartment blocks were built during the "million programme" in the 60’s and 70’s when thermal comfort was the priority and not the energy saving. Nevertheless, this perspective has changed and old buildings from that time have been retrofitted lately, but there are many left still. In fact, one of these buildings will be retrofitted in the near future so a valid model is needed to study the energy saving measures to be taken. The aim of this thesis is to get through a calibration process to obtain a reliable and valid model in the building simulation program IDA ICE 4.7.1. Once this has been achieved it will be possible to carry out the building’s energy performance assessment. IDA ICE has shown some limitations in terms of thermal bridges which has accounted for almost 15 % of total transmission heat losses. For this reason, it is important to make a detailed evaluation of certain joints between elements for which heat losses are abundant. COMSOL Multiphysics® finite element software has been used to calculate these transmittances and then use them as input to IDA ICE to carry out the simulation.

Through an evidence-based methodology, although with some sources of uncertainty, such as, occupants’ behaviour and air infiltration, a valid model has been obtained getting almost the same energy use for space heating than actual consumption with an error of 4% (Once the standard value of 4 kWh/m2 for the estimation of energy use in apartments' airing has been added). The following two values have been introduced to IDA ICE: household electricity and the energy required for heating the measured volume of tap water from 5 °C to 55 °C. Assuming a 16 % of heat losses in the domestic hot water circuit, which means that part of the heat coming from hot water heats up the building. This results in a lower energy supply for heating than the demanded value from IDA ICE. Main heat losses have been through transmission and infiltration or openings. Windows account 11.4 % of the building's envelope, thus the losses through the windows has supposed more than 50 % of the total transmission losses. Regarding thermal comfort, the simulation shows an average Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) of 12 % in the worst apartment. However, the actual value could be considerably lower since the act of airing the apartments has not been taken into account in the simulation as well as the strong sun's irradiation in summer which can be avoided by windows shading. So, it could be considered an acceptable level of discomfort. To meet the National Board of Housing Building and Planning, (Boverket) requirements for new or rehabilitated buildings, several measures should be taken to improve the average thermal transmittance and reduce the specific energy use. Among the energy saving measures it might be interesting replace the windows to 3 pane glazing, improve the ventilation system to heat recovery unit, seal the joints and intersections where thermal bridges might be or add more insulation in the building’s envelope.